Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, September 10, 2023

The Subject I Wanted to Skip

Today, Pastor Michael is talking about one of the most painful experiences in life…divorce.  Hard topic to cover but Michael’s going there! 

Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem and telling his disciples he’ll be arrested and crucified.  The disciples still don’t get the overall picture, but the Pharisees are back with even more “not getting it.”  And they bring up the question of divorce.  They are trolling questions that would entrap Jesus, picking a controversial topic.  They were going through Perea at the time, an area headed up by Herod Antipas, a figure known for beheading John the Baptist, because of John’s views on divorce and remarriage.  So, the Pharisees were smart in picking the topic and the place!

In that day, there were two schools of thought on divorce, modeled after two rabbis: Shammai, whom taught divorce was only allowed by adultery by the woman (not the man) and was a more conservative view.  Rabbi Hillel, taught that a man could divorce his wife for, essentially any reason, a far more liberal view.  The Pharisees had hoped that Jesus would entrap himself, similar to how John the Baptist did and suffer a similar fate.

Jesus’ answer, however, quoted as “What did Moses command you?”, based on Deuteronomy 24: 1-4, did not command divorce only acknowledged it, protected the woman’s rights, and prohibited a husband from remarrying his original wife if he married another woman in between. Once again the Pharisees were misusing Scripture!

Divorce is so polarizing, but it doesn’t end you, God doesn’t stop loving you.  No matter your story, no matter your deal, we love you at Recreate Church!

Love endures, grace forgives and hope rebuilds.  Wherever you are, relationship-wise, give your situation to God, trust Him with it and He’ll work it out.

Verses can be found in Mark 10: 2-12.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.